Basketball: Huskies take hoops trophy to stricken Saskatoon scribe

Pretty touching moment: The Saskatchewan Huskies thought to have floor leader Michael Linklater bring the W.P. McGee Trophy to the hospital room of Bob Florence. Florence, you will recall, is a long-time Saskatoon StarPhoenix journalist.

"Florence went to hospital in critical condition with a massive head injury following an assault in the wee hours of Feb. 27 while walking home from work. He spent the next few weeks in an induced coma, with his survival at some points hanging in the balance.

"Linklater and Florence had never met until that moment in the hospital room; the former a burly athlete at the height of his powers, the latter frail and unable to speak, struggling to rebound from a horrific brain injury.

" ... Florence surprised them all when he tried to talk -- the words catching as he worked to force them out.

" 'We told him we won, and he was happy. You could see it,' Linklater said Wednesday. 'He wanted to talk to us, and I'll never forget that moment for the rest of my life.' "